The Wingless Fairy
by QueenRandomality
Summary: How miserable it must be, to be a wizard without magic, a mermaid without a tail, or a fairy without wings.
1. A Short Prologue

_How miserable it must be, to be a wizard without magic, a mermaid without a tail, or a fairy without wings._

* * *

On the eve of November 19, 1991, a crooked laugh from a crooked smile floated lightly above the dense fog of London. The laugh echoed through the streets and bounced between the rails of old train tracks. Then it leaped up into the sky and stared directly at the face of that famous clock tower, Big Ben. The sunset was purple, blue, and orange, but not red – enough light with which to navigate but too much to detect the faint stars.

The laugh was echoing weaker and weaker, the sound waves growing fainter and fainter, but the stars were not there to help it reach its intended destination. It drifted off with the wind, away from London, away from its place of birth. The air was not freezing, but it was uncomfortably cold for the newborn laugh, waiting for the sun to set.

The stars did not shine until the laugh had made considerable progress east toward Canterbury. By then, it was a faint tinkling, a ghost of a giggle. The laugh struggled its way up into the sky, into the few clouds that were now beginning to settle in, toward the second star.

The winds beat furiously at this height, but the little laugh continued, persevered, and refused to give up. The clouds grew thicker and thicker, the winds beat faster, and the poor little laugh, already weakened with time, felt fatigued and lonely. But it would not give up. It almost fought its way through the coldness and the wetness of the clouds, until suddenly, the sky cleared.

And down below lay an island, difficult to see during this evening hour. The bright eyes of the little laugh, however, did detect the glowing and the sparkling of the pixie dust, to which it was instinctively attracted.

Far, far away from its place of birth, the little laugh settled in a field of dandelions, where it caught onto a single seed and refused to let go. Then the wind brought it into the heart of Pixie Hollow – the Pixie Dust Tree.

When the little laugh, tired and bruised, finally got its first taste of pixie dust, it transformed into a fairy.

A fairy without wings.


	2. A First Chapter

Aspen thought the sunlight quite rude this morning, barging into her small, one-room home at such an early hour. She thought to rise up from her bed and close the curtains around the weak white light, but drowsiness pushed her back under the covers. It was strange to think that a newborn fairy could be so fatigued so easily, but Aspen was indeed new to life, and her being unaccustomed to dull sunlight in the sleepy, late autumn mornings must be pardoned.

She flopped comically around on her bed before resettling into sleep. She dreamed briefly of her first day as a living, breathing fairy.

* * *

The newborn pixie curiously observed the environment around her. Her lack of experience in this world caused her to take meticulous mental notes on each and every thing her senses could tell her. The sky was black, and what were those strange, glowing shadows under the leaves of the Pixie Dust Tree there? Ah, the wings of other fairies. She took a step forward. Her brain was young and her experience was few. She did not perceive the shocked emotion radiating from the many faces before her, nor did she fully understand the whispered words of several voices. She took another step forward.

A marvelous assortment of colorful objects were laid out before her, each carefully packaged in its own golden illuminance.

"What are these things?" the fairy inquired.

"They will help you find your talent, little one," the Queen explained softly behind her.

Shy to speak but bold enough to approach, the young fairy gazed into the beautiful pattern of a flower, accentuated by the bronze pixie dust helping it to stay afloat. The light pink petals reached out invitingly. She looked up and saw smiles and delicate motions of encouragement from the small group of pixies who stood behind the flower. Carefully, the fairy brushed her fingers against the edge of the petals. The flower dissipated at her touch.

Slightly disheartened, she glanced up and moved toward her left, settling on a clear blue droplet. It dispersed light, creating superficial rainbows around itself. The droplet reacted inconsistently with the pixie dust, bobbing up and down as it resisted its newly acquired floating powers. The fairy heard a gasp. The excited water fairies did not tolerate the suspense and waiting this new fairy was taking. Then she brought both hands to the droplet, so that she might catch it. It, too, faded away.

With a combination of worriment and frustration, the fairy found a small bronze whirlwind that scattered pixie dust on the mushroom on which it was spinning. She glanced up at the other pixies that might be sitting behind this whirlwind, but they were relaxing under the shadow of several leaves, and she could not make out their expressions. She leaned in and gazed observantly at the whirlwind, curious.

"Move on," a sharp voice pierced her ear.

Her head snapped up in the direction of the sound and waited.

"You aren't a fast-flying fairy, that's for sure," the voice continued. "Move on."

"What?" the new fairy said meekly, confused.

"You – you don't have wings," the voice said, more delicately.

The newborn fairy glanced around, seeing the crowd of pixies in its entirety for the first time. Several of them exhibited hushed voices and surprised faces, unknowing what was going to happen next. Two sparrowmen were whispering to each other. One fairy had her hands over her mouth, a mixture of surprise, suspense, and fright. The fast-flying fairies were still in shadow. One water fairy shook her head. All of them had golden pixie dust about their wings.

Slowly, almost reluctantly, the new fairy lifted her arm and felt her own back, then let her arm down to her side. She turned around and looked at Clarion, hoping the Queen would confirm her wishes and disprove the bitter truth. Queen Clarion looked as if she were about to say something, but didn't.

When the new fairy turned back around to face the fast-flying fairies, a bright white light radiated out of the whirlwind, and the remaining talents faded away.

There was a great deal of gasping, then frantically looking at each other, then silence, and finally a muted cheering and applause that grew louder and more enthusiastic as the new fairy realized what this meant.

"Come forward, fast-flying fairies, and welcome the newest member of your talent guild," Queen Clarion announced in a voice as surprised as the others, "Aspen Gale."

It was then that Aspen saw those of the fast-flying talent for the first time. They appeared, shocked, out of the darkness and into the light. Some were smiling, though uneasy. The others were sullen and ill-tempered, and the whites of their eyes alone seemed threatening and unhappy. Aspen, by contrast, was grinning excitedly. It had been only several minutes after her first appearance on the world. She did not have the experience and the knowledge to tell her the true misfortune of lacking wings, nor did she stop even once to think about the implications of being a fast-flying fairy who could not fly. She expected these nervous, gloomy pixies to be her friends and kind guides. She looked forward to learning what being a fast-flying fairy would entail. Although she knew she didn't have wings, she thought such a thing a trivial, inconsequential trait, as superficial as skin color or height. She was quite naïve.


	3. A Second Chapter

[A/N: This chapter contains minor references to Pixie Hollow Online, a former Tinkerbell role-playing game. There are mentions of several stores and locations from the game.

Havendish Square was located at the center of Pixie Hollow in Pixie Hollow Online. I'm not certain if the tree located in Havendish is actually the Pixie Dust Tree, but it is for the purposes of this story. Havendish also contained the Fairy Tale Theater and the Ballroom, which were fun locations for premium-membership players to access.

I myself have never been a premium member, so if you were a member and you spot flaws in the Pixie Hollow Online references, I apologize! I hope you still enjoy this chapter, though.]

 _A Second Chapter_

Aspen awakened immediately. The sunlight was quite strong now, and if she didn't hurry up and get out of the door now she was going to be late.

She jumped up forcefully from her bed, stubbed her toe, tripped, and rolled around on the floor, complaining about the pain. She then dragged herself to her mirror, hastily combed through her hair (and did a poor job of it), staring at her many freckles.

What Aspen lacked in fast wings, she had in fast feet. The fast-flying fairies, unsure how to train the new fairy, had challenged her to a race around Pixie Hollow a few days ago after her talent ceremony, just for fun. The racecourse, they agreed, started at the base of the Pixie Dust Tree, sprinted into the Spring meadows, winded its way through the twisting river that dizzied itself through the Summer glade, popped its way through the treetops of the Autumn glens, and returned to the Tree. Aspen kept considerable pace on only her two feet, finishing only a few moments after the last fast-flying fairy. This was impressive, for she had had no training.

Since Aspen couldn't pollinate the spring flowers, bring summer breezes onto the beaches, or spin the leaves in an autumnal gust, the Queen appointed her and her quick feet to the position of messenger. She delivered copious scrolls, often in bulk, to and from wherever was Queen Clarion's request. Aspen liked to read the scrolls sometimes. They weren't sealed, so no one would know Aspen had been learning about the inner workings of Pixie Hollow's ministerial structure.

The scrolls, however, weren't as exciting or secretive as Aspen always hoped they would be. They mostly contained boring work stuff: catalog orders for 10 extra baskets from Tinker's Nook; a request to the Minister of Autumn if he would kindly please send 15 batches of acorns, for the Spring fairies needed to practice flower painting and needed painting buckets; would the summer fairies please prevent unnecessary heat from escaping into the Autumn glen, the animals find it annoying; a reminder to preserve the border between Winter fairies and warm fairies; and, goodness, the Minister of Autumn is allergic to pollen, so would the Spring fairies please remember to tone it down when he is visiting. All of these royal orders gave Aspen the impression that the higher orders of Pixie Hollow were mostly orders and partly personal objections to others' behaviors.

Aspen stepped outside in her worn shoes. She really enjoyed shoes, and she would have to get a new pair from Bella's Baubles sometime. Or maybe Coal's Clothiers. She liked Coal's shoes, but they were all in sparrowman-style. Maybe Summit Style would have something she could wear.

She stepped out into Havendish Square, which was always the busiest region of Pixie Hollow. Not surprising, considering that this was the heart of the island. Fairies and sparrowmen lined up in front of the Theater, eager to see this morning's eccentric production of The Handsome Frog. Further up in the Pixie Dust Tree, the dust fairies were just finishing up their morning shift. The entire place gave one the impression of a small city which was both relaxing and hurried at the same time. Aspen quite liked this atmosphere.

Queen Clarion lived in special royal quarters in the Tree, but she usually had someone transport the necessary scrolls to Aspen's mail, located just at the base of the Tree since Aspen lived so close to the center of Pixie Hollow. She took a short walk to the little wooden box with the words "ASPEN GALE, HAVENDISH SQUARE" inscribed onto it, and retrieved a sack filled with plenty of leafy scrolls.

The Queen would not let her rest on her messenger duties even one day, it seemed.

Affixed to the sack with weak glue was a small leafy note, on which was the hasty scribble "Winter." Again, not a surprise. The overwhelming majority of Aspen's deliveries were made to the Minister of Winter. Perhaps her lack of wings eased the difficulty of traveling along the border between the warm seasons and the frosty cold, since the frost fairies didn't have to care for and watch her wings as carefully as they would have to with any winged fairies.

Aspen made the trip back to her small, sturdy but unappealing house, grabbed her one and only cotton coat, and left Havendish Square on a sprint. There would be more deliveries to make after this one, she was sure, and she didn't want her mailbox clogged by the end of the day.

The road to the Winter Woods was virtually nonexistent, marked only by Aspen's previous steps and the occasional paving of a cart. A much more well-cared for path lay in the trees ahead, where branches had been encouraged to grow out of the way to ensure a straight aerial road to Winter. As such, though Aspen was fast, she hopped over roots, climbed over fallen branches, and waded through thick pools of leaves that had fallen in Havendish. Upon reaching the river that bordered Winter and the rest of Pixie Hollow, she slowly leaped onto a slippery array of stones that she had designed for herself on the first day of her messenger duties. The stones were smooth and precarious under her feet, and Aspen feared she would drop her scrolls. But as she leapt from the last rock onto the snowy bank of Winter, all that she could feel was relief.


	4. A Third Chapter

[A/N: I said I would update the second chapter, but it ended up being so long that I decided to make it into two chapters. This third chapter, then, is really just a continuation of the second chapter.

Oh, and all this time, I've forgotten shoutouts! So here are the late shoutouts, along with an apology: Thank you to Buggy98, Silver Winged Maiden, TheDisneyFan365, simply-sarah-kim, Junior VB, Just a lone Wolf, MinaMausi, QueenOfEpic, Daisy, and MileWideSmile for the support! Sorry for the delay!]

 _A Third Chapter_

Aspen's shoes weren't meant to run through snow, but she did so anyway. She hadn't any snowshoes, since they were costly. Her legs became incredibly cold. She wondered why the Queen couldn't have had some other winter fairy take over the job at this point. Perhaps all of them were busy with their own frost and snowflakes. The winter solstice was rapidly approaching, to be sure, and the fairies were working themselves hard to ready the preparations.

She waved hello to some of the winter fairies who had grown so accustomed to her messenger duties that they had begun to recognize her. The first time she ever came to Winter, the fairies had thought that her wings were under her coat, and offered to frost them to allow ease of flight. That friendly offer was cut short. Nevertheless, they remained polite and genial as ever, as anyone might be.

At least she didn't have freezing, breaking wings, she supposed. That had to be a positive thing, right? Her absentminded thinking almost led her to running head-on into a tree, and she quickly corrected herself, now noticing much of the world outside her own brain. Several winter fairies were sprinting back and forth, practicing their icy winds. A black-haired girl packaged snowflakes in great baskets, underneath the majestic wings of owls who delivered those baskets elsewhere. Icicles suddenly appeared on a great tree in front of Aspen, and the ice-talent sparrowman who created them sat back and evaluated his work. It was astonishing, the coordination and work patterns of the winter fairies. Aspen would have loved to be one.

She searched in her little bag and found a scroll, neatly rounded up into a thin cylinder. Reading, she found, made her think, and thinking made her feel intelligent. If she couldn't fly, then, the least she could do was read. Aspen unrolled the leaf and squinted at the round, curlicue letters.

 _MAINLAND DUTIES – WINTER SOLSTICE. ONE-MONTH CHECK._

 _TODAY'S DATE – NOVEMBER 23, 1991._

 _BOUND FOR MAINLAND – DECEMBER 22, 1991._

 _Currently registered –_

 _639 winter pixies. 561 bound for Mainland. 78 stay. Includes frost-talent, glacier-talent, winter-animal-talent, ice-talent, general winter-talent. Recount as needed and report._

 _260 owls. Recount as needed and report._

 _(NOTE: Further registrations must be completed by December 19.)_

 _Completed processes –_

 _Warm seasons' aid in preparations is well under way._

 _Training of new winter fairies has been completed._

 _Continued training of current winter fairies has been completed._

 _Preparations are currently 60% complete._

 _Pending processes –_

 _Orders (including orders for snow baskets) are pending and managed by Tinker's Nook._

 _(NOTE: All orders must be placed by November 30.)_

 _IMPORTANT: THE QUEEN'S REVIEW IS SCHEDULED FOR DECEMBER 20, 1991._

 _If there is any error in this one-month check, please report immediately._

 _OFFICIAL ONE-MONTH CHECK, FROM THE PIXIE HOLLOW MINISTRY. EVALUATED AND SIGNED BY QUEEN CLARION._

Underneath was the Queen's elaborate signature. Aspen found that these sorts of official documents always used such strict, important-sounding sentence structure, and it could almost be considered flowery had it not been so dull. Such notes about the winter solstice had been passed between the Queen and the Minister of Winter for quite a while now. Aspen thought herself special for having been born in such a busy and wonderful time. She wondered what the Mainland was like. It seemed a fantastical place, where pixies' true purpose and duties could be achieved.

The mostly-forested view opened up to reveal a grand, snowy clearing, dominated by a magnificent ice castle that rivaled any other architecture in Pixie Hollow. The Minister of Winter liked all her buildings and her pixies' buildings to be exquisite, fine, and suitable to the most flamboyant tastes. It was such a tall castle, with elaborate towers and detailed arches and glittering windows. Aspen would have had difficulty imagining the opulent feel of the castle had she not seen it before.

As messenger, Aspen was always welcomed in. She ascended the crystalline stairs and found the Minister's office. The Minister was staring intently at some paperwork, her eagle eyes rapidly scanning the words. This Minister, as Aspen described her, was not gentle yet not cruel. She was a woman who had little patience, but gave honest praise when it was deserved, and who always carried herself with a royal and majestic air.

Aspen knocked the door gently and waited.

The Minister stood and, slightly annoyed at having been disturbed, focused her pale, blue-gray eyes on Aspen. She then directed her gaze at the bag of scrolls which were clenched in Aspen's hands, and quickly but tiredly hurried to the door to welcome Aspen in.

"Nice to see you again, Miss Gale. Are those the messages for me? I'll take them now, Miss Gale. Thank you. I must know the results of my order. I sent for sixty snow baskets last week, and haven't heard as much as a confirmation yet from Fairy Mary. Miss Gale, if you would please remain there. I'm sure I'll need to write a reply that you'll need to send back."

The Minister opened and read the first scroll. "Oh, good, the animal fairies have everything under control, and the animals are making the transition from autumn to winter quite smoothly…all right." She scanned the next. "A delay in shipments? Well! As if we can have delays, when we are already pressed against the solstice deadline!" And the next. "Oh, now, the snow baskets will be arriving just fine. The baskets will be ready when your owls are ready, Mary says." Then the last. "It seems our one-month check went well. Dear me, I hope I don't collapse from the stress of this before the solstice!"

She sat down quickly, and pulled a leafy sheet from a large but neat pile underneath her desk. Then, with her fabulous owl-feather pen, she scribbled a hasty note and placed the seal of the Winter Ministry upon it. She then rolled it up and gently placed it in Aspen's bag.

"There you are, Miss Gale. Remember to be safe during your travels! I should like this to reach Queen Clarion."

"Thank you, Minister," Aspen replied.

The journey back was quick. Aspen did very much desire to go to the Mainland. She was technically a warm fairy, but she doubted anyone would ever let her leave Pixie Hollow, anyway. Her frequent travels to the Winter Woods cultivated in her a liking for the cold season, and for the fairies who facilitated it. Surely the transformation from Autumn to Winter would be amazing. She would be able to see what it was like for a nature-talent fairy to perform her work.

Well, she supposed she was technically a nature-talent fairy. But how was she going to perform her fast-flying talent duties? Run around the Mainland to create summer gusts? Hand-pick little particles of pollen and dump them on confused flowers? Aspen giggled a little at the thought.

The rest of her day proceeded relatively the same. There were messages to deliver, always messages to deliver. Everyone always needed a runner who had free time and who wasn't working on winter preparations. Aspen thought that if communication were so important, why didn't they just wind clotheslines everywhere around Pixie Hollow and clip notes to them?

Ah. But then Aspen herself would have nothing to do, wouldn't she?

By the time the moon made its first appearance, Aspen walked slowly back home from the Summer glens. She reflected on another day of routine – another day of running, delivering, running, delivering. It was always the same. She reflected on another lonely day, too, how the water-talent fairies liked to work on their spiderwebs together and how the garden fairies chatted with each other during breaks from work and how the winter fairies reaped the fruits of their snowflake-making together and how Aspen seemed apart from all this. She was a medium through which Pixie Hollow's communication could facilitate itself but not much else.

She neared the Theater in Havendish Square and heard the wild clapping of the audience for this night's production, The Fairy's Shadow. When Aspen had enough money, she was going to buy herself a ticket to one of these theatrical gems.

She entered her house. Her only lamplight was dim and most of her lighting really came from the moon and the stars. She returned her coat to its hanger, briefly washed her face, and went to sleep, exhausted.


	5. A Fourth Chapter

[This chapter contains references to 1991 England. I've done the research that I can, but if you are familiar with the country and spot mistakes, please alert me ASAP. If you have any tips on writing an English setting, please message me. I will be using such a setting in later chapters, and the more information/research I know, the better.

Let's not forget the thank yous! Thanks to Bartman, Fan01, QueenofEpic, and yellow 14 for the support. If your username was not mentioned, I apologize! I haven't been very organized so far, so I might've missed you. Please message me if I have. And to the other readers and guests: Thanks so much for sticking with me throughout these chapters!]

* * *

 _A Fourth Chapter_

Aspen thought it surprising, though not entirely rude, that Vivian Rainthorn, current head of the Fast-Flying Guild, opened the door to Aspen's quasi-shack, stared Aspen directly in the eyes, and softened her expression.

"The Queen's Review is today. All fast-flying fairies meet at Acorn Summit, no exceptions." She paused, waiting for Aspen's confirmation.

"For what?" Aspen asked, not unkindly.

"Oh. We'll discuss where we'll be and what we'll say when the Queen comes around, of course. Granted, this is winter, so the winter fairies will be judged the most harshly. We've still been helping with the preparations –" Vivian paused – "The Queen will want to see how much progress we've made."

"All right," Aspen said shortly.

"Yes. Ahem," Vivian cleared her throat. "It would be good if you could get there quickly, because the meeting's started a few minutes ago. I forgot – it seems you weren't there, so I decided to tell you."

"I was never notified," Aspen remarked innocently.

"So it seems," Vivian avoided meeting her gaze. "Really, this is important, so be there." Then she shut the door.

Aspen wondered if the fast-flying fairies of her own guild considered her an outsider.

* * *

Fast-flying was a rare talent. There were only six fairies assembled neatly on a tree branch in Acorn Summit, under the shade of several fiery orange leaves. They took their time watching Aspen climb up the side of the tree with the indentations in the bark as an aid. Then they began to chat amongst themselves.

"I'll be at the border, at the usual place," one long-haired fairy with sharp eyes announced.

"And I'll be with ya," a fairy joined, whose ripples in her dress floated as lazily as her eyes did.

"We're in the parade to the Winter celebration," two sparrowmen with similar faces added.

"I'm working with the other pixies to finish up last-minute preparations," another fairy joined in, looking at her nails.

"So, everyone knows what they'll be doing, correct?" Vivian asked.

"Yes," Aspen confirmed.

* * *

Aspen never attended her first Queen's Review. There were curious questions concerning her whereabouts, but nothing more serious than that. While music was playing and the glowing wings of fairies appeared as twinkling lights against the nighttime scene, Aspen sat with a booklight and a small notepad in the library, with a thin pamphlet open before her.

"Good book?" a small sparrowman, probably a library assistant, walked past her.

"Yes. _Encyclopedia of the Mainland,_ it is. A good read." It was the only book in the entire library on the topic of the Mainland.

"Quite scholarly," the library assistant swatted away a bookworm, who looked with sad eyes at the pixie who interrupted its meal.

The _Encyclopedia_ really didn't deserve such a grandiose name, given its diminutive size. The information, however, was new to Aspen. A fascinating map was laid out before her. A dot labeled "London" was surrounded by a great, almost circular road. A little to the right was a dot called "Canterbury," and there were others, too: Hastings and Southend-On-Sea, for example. And to the left, Oxford, and Guildford, and Winchester. At the very top of the map was labeled "Cambridge." Multiple roads seemed to radiate out from London, as if that city on the center of the map were a star. Parts of the map were missing, an unfortunate act of the bookworm.

Aspen flipped the page. There were descriptions of how the seasons worked, that the Mainland only experienced one season at a time, with three months for each. There were more maps that Aspen couldn't comprehend at all. One of them was a huge map labeled "London," and it looked all so very complicated. The only thing Aspen recognized was a great river that ran through the page. She wondered if she could understand better if only she had grown up on the Mainland.

Aspen drew the map on her little notebook the best she could, but it was really a poor sketch. She wasn't an art-talent, she supposed.

The _Encyclopedia_ did not, however, include much information on humans, only that their presence should be considered dangerous and that fairies should perform their duty to change the seasons, nothing else. They were not to interact with humans, and should report to an authority immediately if they are seen by a human. Any "Lost Things," the strange items that sometimes appeared on Pixie Hollow beaches, were property of the Mainland and should absolutely not be touched, lest you risk danger upon yourself.

Such a vicious description made Aspen cringe. She had, with her limited education, considered humans friendly, though distant. She surely hoped that in the future, after 1991, someone would find a use for Lost Things, and find a way to interact with humans in a kind manner.

But the Mainland, despite all the _Encyclopedia_ 's negative depictions, intrigued Aspen. It seemed an unexplored place that had much to offer intellectually. One could study the Mainland for one's entire life and still have further things to study. Aspen wondered how anyone could live there, since no one could fly. Everything would have to be on the ground, then. They would use up a lot of land space if everything was on the ground, though. In Pixie Hollow, many stores and homes were perched high up in trees or in flower bulbs; the island was built vertically. How, then, would the humans manage to build anything? Their houses would have to be huge. Maybe the entire island of Pixie Hollow would only be able to house a couple of humans. How tall, exactly, _were_ humans, anyway? Aspen shuddered. She certainly hoped they weren't the mythical evil giants that were popular in so many fairy novels.

The last page only read,

 _This book was written in 1990, by Abigail Starlight._

It was such a short book, and Aspen was disappointed. She searched a little in the bookshelves for more on the Mainland, but there was none. What kind of "comprehensive" library was this? Had there just been no books written on the matter? The place the pixies went to every three months? Had no one except Abigail Starlight even bothered to think about studying the Mainland in depth?

There was great cheering outside. The Queen's Review had passed, and all were now celebrating the arrival of Winter that would leave Pixie Hollow in two days. Those fairies would be bound for the Mainland, leaving the rest behind.

Aspen shook. She turned her head. A million things came to her. A spark had been ignited. She found her intellectual passion. She wished to study. To learn. To document. To contribute. To be a useful person, to benefit others. Her tedious messenger schedule was forgotten.

The problem was, she wasn't allowed to go to the Mainland.

She smiled at the library assistant and checked out the _Encyclopedia of the Mainland._ Book and notebook in hand, she walked outside, into the cool night air.

Small lanterns, a few instruments, and rose petals were scattered about, the remnants of the Winter celebration.


End file.
